TCTCNBN
by Effar
Summary: April is shocked to return home and find how vastly it has changed in the ten years of her absence, and finds herself falling for four mutants that will turn her world upside down.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey, look! Didn't we just go through this? Well, we did. Alas, I wasn't exactly "happy" with my first go at this story, so I went in and completely revamped the first chapter and…well, here we are. Hopefully this time around I can keep up on updating and not keep you waiting for too long. We'll see ;D

But before we continue on I must take this time to give two huge thanks to very special people. First off is TF who took this first chapter and charged through it headfirst, completely breaking it down to show me what's what – for that I am forever grateful. Betas are always important, trust me, even people who Beta need Betas – it's just a fact of life. Like gravity!

Of course, I need to thank Elge who was there for me when I needed a break and someone to bounce ideas off of. You really are made out of rubber, man. Thanks for that.

ALRIGHT. And just as an added note, yeah, this is an AU, though I figured you'd know that by the end of the chapter. 8D

**Disclaimer: **April, Mutant Turtles, or any mutations you might find in this story do not belong to me. I just write about them.

...

"Alright, are you ready, Ms O'Neil? You can just start from where you remember the best."

"Oh, but I remember the day as clearly as if it happened only yesterday." She sighed, old, aging hands tracing a design on a worn, well loved photo album. Turning the cover over, she looked longingly at a picture on a yellowing page before tilting the book carefully to show off. It was of a building, tall, sagging, and clearly in disrepair, but it bore a small sign that barely read through the old black and white photo: Auggie's Inn.

"I hadn't been home in many, many years. So much had changed since I had been there – everything was so new and bustling. Well, it was always crowded, but not that late in the season. It was still months away from Marraba you know – they don't hold that anymore, unfortunately. It was always so exciting to see all the different kinds of people and shops. I loved it as a little girl and being a young woman hadn't changed my love for it in any way.

The ship I had come off of was huge – living so far inland for so many years, I hadn't seen anything quite as exotic as that one before. I was so stunned and amazed; I hardly remember finding my way off the ship at all.

There were so many people, but my mind was wrapped around one thing and one thing only: I was there to get my inheritance… one I didn't want and had no idea what to do with. I had been putting it off for years, but I had finally reached my dead end and had nowhere else to go.

I just wanted to get in and out as fast as my legs could carry me. Nothing, _nothing_ was going to stop me that time – or so I thought. Fortunately someone had much bigger plans for me than that and it was a nice slap in the face to know that I couldn't run forever from it."

* * *

April drew her skirt higher off her shoes with a disgruntled snort. It was the fourth time in the past five minutes that her hem had been stepped on and it was now thoroughly soaked with rain water and mud. Biting back snappish remarks, she straightened up, purse of gold held tight in hand, and began to elbow her way through the crowd with as much force as she could muster.

The mass of people reminded her distantly of a sea – forever changing course and full of monsters with sharp teeth. Deep down she knew she liked the pull of the crowds; it made her focus, slowed her down, and, above all, made getting to the other side of Main street take three times as long.

She'd been dreading this walk for ten years – she could afford wasting a few extra minutes with the crowd.

"Move it, Mutt! I don't have all day." A man in nice, straightened suit stood just off to the side looking distinguishably aggravated. A stooped, bowed man in haggard looking clothes came shuffling up to the man, carrying with him large, over-packed bags.

"It's about time. I can't believe how highly recommended you came – I have half a mind to go back and return you for something a little _smarter._" The bowed man cowered, jerkily shaking his head at the suited man. "No? Well, then you better get your tail moving a little faster, Mutt."

Y-yes sir," rasped the little man in an eerie, inhuman choke. He coughed a deep, unsettling hack that sounded anything but healthy, and a long, twitching tail appeared beneath his coat. The well dressed man had, by then, stalked far enough away to miss the bowed man whisper, "Bastard."

It didn't just sound inhuman, it _was_ inhuman.

As she began her trek again, more confused and more irritated than when she first arrived, she noticed something a little different among the human crowds. There were inhuman things all over –and they were all following at least one human in a bowed, submissive sort of way, just like the lizard-man.

It was then that April remembered a newspaper clipping she had seen left in an old café in town some years back. "Oroku Saki Brings to Light a Better Living to All With the Help of Mutant Pets."

She frowned, thinking back on it as she turned down an alley. Mutants? Pets? Mutts? No – she couldn't worry about it now, she had one destination and one thought on her mind; to get as far away from New York as possible.

However, as she trekked down the street, she found the alley to be considerably less alive. The crowds of people were moved, piled around a raised platform yelling out seemingly random numbers. As they raised their hands as they cried out, all but shoving into each other to get to the front of the stage.

A man in an overly bright suit stood on stage, pointing and yelling at people in such a rapid fashion, April could hardly make out the words he was saying. A group of mutants stood on the platform, all chained to the wrists of their partners, all looking bleak and hopeless.

Another man on stage would quickly shuffle over at random intervals and unlock one or two Mutants at a time, leading them quietly off the stage then shoving them through a curtain where they were lost from view. Then he'd return moments later, two or three different mutants with him to replace the missing spaces. The ones that were dragged off were never brought out again.

A shiver of cold ice ran down her spine, and she silently made her way through the crowd, bizarre morbid fascination grabbing at her heart.

"Hey! FIFTY FOR THE SMALL FRY!"

April nearly dropped her purse of gold she hadn't realized she was clutching so tightly as an older woman cried out, waving her stumpy arms at the bright-suited stage man. He pointed to her and yelled nearly as loudly to the crowd.

After that, the man continued in a voice that rapidly picked up speed until all April could hear after a while was a loud, droning buzz. She stood, rooted to the spot, looking from each yelling person back to the stage and then toward the Mutants again, flabbergasted.

"You look a little out of place, miss."

"What?" April whirled around, thinking of hunched, morphed lizard men with forked tongues and winking pale, yellowed eyes here to harass her even more.

Instead, a little girl with a little torn dress and two, deep brown eyes framed by triangle ears peered up at her with a simple smile.

"Begging your pardon, but you do look a little confused, Miss Red." The little cat girl nodded knowingly. "You don't live 'round here, do you?"

"I used to, but haven't in many, many years," said April, bending down so she was more level with the little girl. "Do you live nearby? Are you here with your family?"

The girl looked up at her, a small pout forming on her pointed, inhuman face. "You haven't been 'round here in a looooong time, Miss Red. Mutts don't _have_ family!" She said this with an air of exasperation, as if April should have known better than to ask silly questions. "I'm here with my Master! I'm his fifth Mutt, but he says he needs more and more. He has a big house, you know – huuuuuuuuuggee! And so many floors, not enough Mutants to clean it, though – he got me because I'm so tiny and can get into really tight spaces!"

"I can tell," said April kindly, not really understanding why she had attracted the cat-girl in the first place or why the girl felt she needed to tell her whole life story in one breath. It wasn't like anyone else opted to speak to her, so April took what she could at the moment and was thankful for it. "Do you have a name?"

"No, ma'am. The Master sometimes calls me Fifth, so you can call me Fifth, too, Miss Red!"

"Oh, I-I see."Well. April wasn't expecting that kind of answer. "Well, you can call me April. It's very nice to meet you, Fifth."

Fifth beamed brightly, clapping her hands excitedly. "Are you here to buy a Mutt for your home, Mis—Oh, I mean—April? Oh, I wish you had bought me instead of Master!" She pouted suddenly, looking annoyed with April for having such a terrible sense of timing.

April gave a sad smile, not quite sure how to respond. Instead she went for the easy question first. "Oh, no I'm not here to buy anyone—" There was a great pulling cheer from the crowd of onlookers as the brightly-dressed man bounded back on stage, his voice crashing through anything April had wanted to say.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, for our grouped Mutts! Best of the best that work together and work strong; or, for the ladies, a matching set for the upcoming Mutant Showcases that can be groomed for winners in no time! Now, I could stand here and be a good salesmen, talking all your ears off, but today I think these special guests can speak for themselves. Let's start the bidding at 200 coins for this fine set!"

He flourished his orange-covered arms as four figures lined up on stage, their green-tinted skins clashing magnificently with his suit, while Fifth gasped dramatically. "It's the Brothers!"

"The Brothers?" April had to stand on tip-toe to see over the heads of the crowd as people clambered forward, some gasping just as dramatically as Fifth had while others whispered excitedly to each other. She had no idea how Fifth could see the mutants or know who they were when April herself could barely make out their forms from so far away. "I thought you said Mutts— er, uh… _mutants _didn't have family?"

Fifth was using April's leg to steady herself as she mimicked the red-headed human, standing on her own shoe-less toes. "The Brothers are the only ones known in Mutt history," she whispered lowly as if worried of being over heard – but people were whispering so loudly amongst themselves, April highly doubted anyone would notice if a wall of screaming, hairless gorillas ran past, devouring bananas as they went, let alone one little girl whispering into an ear. "No one knows for sure if they're blood related or not, but they've always declared themselves as brothers."

"They certainly look… similar," April whispered back. The stage man waited mutely as the crowd continued their excitable chatter – he seemed to be rather enjoying himself. Unfortunately for April, he was also standing directly in her line of vision. Although from what she could make out they all looked to be of the same build, though all were definitely different sized – especially standing shoulder to shoulder as they did. "Why do so many people know about them, Fifth?"

"Beeccauuuseee!" gasped Fifth. "They're the only ones to ever defy their Masters! Naughty of them, so says Third, but Second finds them very…" she lowered her voice, glancing around nervously. April had to lean in closer to hear her properly. "_Handsome_." Wide, amazed eyes stared up at the woman, and April couldn't help but laugh. "Don't tell no one I said so! Second made Fifth promise!"

"I won't tell no—_anyone_," chuckled April, straightening up somewhat. "You said Masters? As in more than one?" Maybe it was Fifth's reaction, or maybe the crowd's, or even the reputation themselves, but April couldn't be drawn away from their stilled forms, these _Brothers_, standing so tall, so defiantly against the hoard of people amassed there simply to bet on their livelihood. Even from this distance she could see how young they were. "If they've bothered that many Masters, why are they so… _popular?"_

Fifth looked thoughtful for a minute, chewing on her lower lip carefully - April saw a sneak of a sharp, pointed fang before it disappeared once again, hidden beneath the silky fur on the girl's face. After another minute, the little cat-girl spoke slowly, carefully. "I think because they're… _difficult._ Un-tameable. Masters want to be known as the ones who tamed the Brothers, you know. Thinks it'll make the other Mutts in town respect them for it – or be feared."

"But other Masters like them for other reasons besides reputation," she continued. "Third says they're good at sneaking. Hiding, you know? That's how they usually escape their Masters, they sneak away and don't come back – Third says it's bad for Mutts to behave like that. Gives us bad names. Bad Masters think they can use their sneaking for things. Bad things."

April frowned as something twisted in her chest, stirring a dark, gloomy mold that spread out slowly and carefully. It was hard to ignore.

"They don't stick around for long," said Fifth who had been watching April's expression carefully. "When things go wrong, the Brother's usually leave their Masters – go into hiding. No one knows where they go but… sooner or later they're caught again."

"How many Masters have they had?"

"Mutts have nasty habits of twisting truths 'til they're lies, Miss April, so no one can say for sure. Second says their last one was their fifth… Hey! Like me!"Fifth smiled happily feeling especially smart at her brilliant conclusion as she padded behind April.

They were closer now than they had been, though, and April simply couldn't look away. The Brothers were different than what she expected – much different than the Mutant behind her. They were short and stocky, green with pointed faces. They were _turtles._

That dark, stirring thing rose higher and higher in her chest choking her with its grip. It was desperately trying to tell her something.

"Three hundred for the Brothers."

The feeling shot to her throat and April craned her neck around, eyes darting through the crowd for the source of the deep gutted voice.

He was easy to find as everyone else had the same morbid fascination as she did, and had all turned to get a better look at the towering man. He stood calmly, carefully put together with his slicked hair and sharp, well ironed clothes.

The Brothers reaction to the man's comment did nothing to help her sudden deep unease about the man. As they stared down at him with their own unveiled fury, the two taller Brothers stood protectively in front of the smallest, one even going as far as baring his teeth dangerously.

The man, however, gave the smallest hint of a smirk and returned their glare with his own bespectacled one. His smile became more decidedly evil as the youngest Brother peeked around his sibling's leg and stared with eyes of the brightest, clearest blue.

"My! Three hundred pieces of gold!" cried the bright stage man flailing his arms excitedly. "What a jump in price! Now, anyone want to best that? Do I have three-twenty?"

No one spoke. No one said anything at all, not even the whispers coated the air.

Without thinking, she raised her hand above the crowd, drawing out her loudest, deepest cry for she was still almost too far away from the stage to be heard properly. She was sure, however, that she was heard loud and clear as every head turned to her.

"Four hundred and fifty for the lot of them!"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey! Me again, and gasp! An update already? Crazy. I know, it's insane. I rather like this chapter better than the first and I think I'm getting a good handle on the characters, so I hope you enjoy it as well.

Thanks again to TF who is the best beta in the WOOORRLLD. Yes. World is spelled that way.

Also, I completely re-wrote the first chapter, so you might want to go take a look at that before reading. Trust me, it'll help clear things up.

**Disclaimer:** April, Mutant Turtles, Karai, Auggie, none of these characters are mine. The ghosts, however, are my property. Sad, isn't it?

…

The pen stopped in midsentence as curious brown eyes looked over a sheaf of papers. "You just… bought them? Just like that? No going home to mull over any drastic decisions? No consulting with any family members – just…bought them? Just like that?"

"I was young." April smiled, turning a page in the wizened photo album. The yellowing page was stiff with age and creaked as an old, un-oiled door would, but the pictures crowding its surface were bright and well taken care of. Across their fronts bore the snapshots of toothy smiling mutants standing as a family would, a young woman's arm snaked around each of their shoulders. "Young people very rarely think at times of crisis. They just act. Even if I had had time to rethink my actions, I would have made the same decision in the long run."

"How can you be so certain?"

"It's hard to explain it to someone who has never experienced it before," she started slowly, a wrinkle forming itself across her brow. "It's just… a feeling. A certainty that what was happening would have happened over and over again, even if I tried to change it."

"And you never second-guessed this 'certainty'?"

"Oh, every minute of every day for weeks – this picture you see here? We weren't all smiles and hugs at the beginning." Chuckling, she shook her head wryly. "No, it was awful the first couple of nights. They didn't trust me as far as they could throw me. I think a part of me always thought I'd wake up one morning and they'd be gone, runaways once again, hiding in one of the warehouses down by the bay, waiting for the guards to find them and put them up for auction again. At first I almost wished they would – then I could leave and never look back.

"But then… as time went on, I started dreading it. I'd have nightmares that I'd wake up to find that old Inn dark and empty, their presence completely gone and barren. On those nights I thought I'd lose my sanity."

"They never left you then? You woke up to find them there every morning?"

April laughed; it was an old woman's laugh full of secret knowing. "Not every morning, no. No matter what the world told them, I was in no more control over them than fishermen have over their fish – I couldn't keep them at home as fishermen couldn't tell the fish to jump into their boats."

Furious scribbling took over the comforting lull of conversation for a few moments which April took the time to examine the black and white photos more closely. There was one in particular of a single mutant looking at her, caught off guard by the unexpected flash, his face young and unrestricted by lines of age. His blue eyes could almost shine through the confined grain, sharp and pure – though that could just be April's memories taking over.

"Now," the man spoke finally, not looking up from his notes. "You said that you stayed in your Uncle's Inn after you bought the Brothers?" April nodded. "Why was that? I thought your plan was to sell it as quickly as possible."

"It was at first. Having children changes things, especially your frame of mind. Not to mention, of course, your income. Do you have any children?"

"No ma'am."

"Oh, don't worry – you will someday. I don't think anyone's change was as great as mine was, however. I was a single twenty-five year old runaway-turned-mother of four in the space of time it takes to buy a bowl of fruit. I was out and beyond my comfort zone and my internal map was reading "here there be monsters" all over it."

"Shocking, to say the least, Ms. O'Neil?"

"To say the least, yes. It didn't help, though, that my inheritance – my uncle's Inn – was as haunted with old memories as it was with ghosts."

The pen, once again, paused. "Ghosts? As in… ah… spirits?"

"Spooks, spirits, ghosts, demons – whatever you want to call them, we had them. At first I thought it was just my imagination playing with a stressed woman's mind – but then the other's started hearing it too, especially the young one. That's when things got a little weird - because it obviously wasn't weird enough to have four mutant turtles sleeping in the next room."

* * *

_Left, left, right, fork right, down four steps, up two, another left… lots of lefts… right, jump and turn._

_Left…left… _

_Right..._

_Fork – why are they called forks? It doesn't look like a fork…_

_Steps, can't forget the steps. Up two, down four – no, wait, that's wrong. Down four and up two, that's right. Can't forget... Can't. _

_Left… and jumping. You have to jump. You can't miss the jump. It's important…_

_Can you hear me? Jump! It's important! You have to jump! Jump!_

_JUMP!_

April flew out of her bed, covers wrapped around her legs like bandages as she crashed, shoulder first, onto the hardened wooden floor. The world burst into brilliant contrast as adrenaline pumped through her veins, and she fought into a sitting position. Someone was in her _room_, watching her – she knew it, she felt it in every core of her person. There was someone in here, whispering and watching her sleep. She couldn't make out the words over her own ragged breathing, but she was sure someone had just been talking.

She took a deep breath and strained her ears.

…

_Left, left, right, right—_

There! April snapped open her eyes, unaware she had closed them in the first place, and darted for the door. There opened up to her a landing leading off two different directions, up or down. Footsteps echoed in the breezy staircase, slow and steady like a beating heart – quite unlike April's rampaging one in her chest that beat out of tune with excitement. Hesitating only for a minute, she tore down the steps taking two at a time, mindful of the way her socked feet slipped here and there.

Though her hurried steps were loud and unorthodox, nothing seemed to be able to drown out the tromping footsteps that, no matter how fast she slipped down the steps, seemed to get further and further away without ever breaking pace.

A landing suddenly materialized beneath April's feet catching her off guard, and she staggered at the sudden stop. A wall rose to her aid and she leaned heavily against it, waiting for her breath to catch up to her and for the pounding in her ears to subside to hear more clearly. She couldn't be certain if the pounding were the footsteps or her own heart anymore.

Warily she glanced around, finding herself at the first floor that branched out to a cavernous room that narrowed down to make the front lobby at the other end. The room was dark and unyielding to any secrets, though the shadows played interesting tricks on her eyes and twice she jumped at disfigured human shapes that weren't really there. Even as she looked around, however, a strange tingling feeling tickled at the back of her neck as she realized just exactly where she was.

The first landing.

The first floor.

There were no more steps to go down… and yet the footsteps continued on, growing fainter and fainter as an old dying heart might. Still and unmoving, she waited until the last echoes of the steps receded and fell away, and silence stole over the old Inn. Somehow the quiet unnerved her more than the unexplained footsteps had and it rooted her to the spot, irrational fear holding her heart still.

Something very strange was going on here.

* * * *

"But I'm telling you, there was someone outside our door!" The youngest one whined loudly, staring across the table at his oldest brother defiantly. "They were whispering things!"

April stayed studiously quiet as she absently swallowed her cereal. On the other side of the table Leo gave a great sigh while the other's carefully kept their eyes trained on their breakfast. They'd been through this conversation before.

"I've already told you Mikey – Raph and I've looked this place top to bottom," he said sternly. "There's. Nothing. Here."

"Then you must have missed something! I heard it last night running up and down the stairs!"

April glanced up. "Oh, that might have been me." Everyone's eyes turned toward her – even the second youngest who was normally too shy to look at her at all. She suddenly felt as if a spotlight had sprung to life around her. "I got up last night to get a drink and I uh… slipped," she said lamely.

There was a beat or two as everyone stared at her, then, as if nothing had happened, Leo turned back to his brother. "See Mike? Everything can be explained. You just think too much before you go to bed, you should try emptying your mind before you fall asleep."

"Yeah, like that's going to be hard," snorted the second oldest – Raph – as he shoved another spoonful into his mouth.

"Hey!"

The four continued on as if April wasn't even there – not that she minded much. It was a vast improvement over the awkward silences that took over their first couple of mornings eating together. They all tried their best to act as if she wasn't there, and she simply watched them from an outsider's point of view. Certainly, even if they weren't biological brothers, they acted as normal as any family of four boys would, and it gave her a sense of peace that some normalcy was accepted under this roof.

"Aren't you going to finish, Donnie?"

April looked up, drawn from her insistent staring at the cold cereal in front of her. The second youngest – and oddly too tall and gangly for his age – shook his head with a twist of his mouth. "I'm not hungry," he turned to his brother. "Do you want the rest, Mikey?"

"Do I!" The youngest chirped brightly, pulling the bowl over to him, all complaints of unexplained noises vanishing in an instant as he tipped his spoon into the hardly touched cereal. Leo looked at Donnie with raised eyes and the younger mutant merely shrugged in response. April watched it all very closely and curiously. Such sacrifices that they apparently were far too used to doing.

Which brought up another problem that the young, red-headed woman had been trying her best to ignore for the better part of the week – they needed food, real food, and soon. Food, however, cost money, and money, much like trust, was one of the many things they simply did not have between the five of them.

"I, uh, don't know what your guys' plans are," she began, looking around the table. "But I'll be heading into town for most of the morning and probably won't be back till late. If you get hungry, I'm sure there's something in the pantry you can… help yourself to."

When no answer came, she stood, taking the bowl to the old, rusted out sink hidden in the corner of the kitchen and gently sat her bowl atop a mountain of dishes where it teetered precariously on the top cup, shifting slightly as it found its balance. She sighed and turned back to the table. One very empty table with four extra dishes greeted her.

"Okay… good talk, guys."

* * * *

Despite the bitter cold biting at the necks of passersby, Main was still crowded as ever, even in the off season, and April had to push and shove her way through just as she had so many days previous. Though with the added baggage of food she haggled for all morning it was far more difficult to squeeze through the gaps in the crowd she would normally have taken advantage of.

Luckily for the young red-head, however, just another turn down a decidedly deserted alley and she'd be able to see the old Inn looming in the distance, shrugged up against sagging, taller buildings that dwarfed her uncle's pride and joy. For as much as she disliked being inside the building, it's calm quiet presence seemed to have grown on her in the past week and it made her feet trot just a little bit faster, bags slinging haphazardly into people as she turned the corner.

A flick of a familiar tail caught her attention once, and she trained her eyes on it as it traced through the crowd, but before she could call out to Fifth, her path was obscured by a dark shadow.

"Excuse me," said the figure with a heavily accented formality. "Would you be Ms O'Neil?"

April took a couple steps back, frowning. No one was supposed to know of her being here – not even her sister knew where she was. "I would be – ah, I mean, yes, yes I'm O'Neil. Can I help you?"

The foreign woman smiled behind curtains of short, black hair that framed her face to a perfect edge. "Ms O'Neil, my name is Karai – I am a representative of Oroku Industries and would like to speak with you."

"Oroku Industries? The company that created the mutants?"

"Yes."

"… Okay. Uh, what can I do for you?" April repositioned her bags more securely in her hands, unsure of what she should be prepared for. Whatever happened, though, she was ready to dart off back into the crowds swelling behind her and lose the strange cold woman before her. She had paid straight cash at the auction, never even mentioned her name, least of all her last name, and left before any questions could have been asked. So… how did this woman find her?

It all left a very strange taste in her mouth.

"We've noticed you have taken up residency in your Uncle's Inn," Karai said simply, her very business-like dress not even twitching in the wind. "You are planning to reopen it by the next season, are you not?"

"It crossed my mind," said April slowly, defensibly. In fact, it hadn't crossed her mind till the morning before when she woke to find half of the lobby cleared of its debris and dust – the Brothers working on their own provocation to slowly but surely clear away the old cobwebs of Augie's legacy. April shifted her weight warily. "But I don't see how this might concern such a big company like Mr. Oroku—"

"Do not be alarmed, Ms. O'Neil, we are simply checking on our products and hoping they are proving… useful to you," Karai's voice cut in smoothly, edgily like a cool, controlled blade. Her face never hinted to any sign of emotion hidden behind her wall of control, but April thought she could hear something else… a chink in her blade perhaps.

April, on the other hand, was having much more trouble keeping her anger from spilling out into her voice. "_Products?_ You mean the Brothers?" she huffed and stood straighter, standing just barely an inch or two taller than the foreign woman. "They have names you know – and feelings! I don't know about _you_, Ms. Karai, but I don't know many shampoo _products_ that can talk and feel and think!"

Karai remained emotionlessly unmoving.

Getting no more response, April shoved past Karai, not wanting to have an excuse to take out her anger on the stranger anymore than she had to, when a hand snapped around her shoulder, stopping her.

"I knew your Uncle very well, Ms. O'Neil," Karai said lowly, suddenly much closer to April's face, and suddenly much, much more dangerous. "You are much like him. It would be well worth remembering to know that we are very close and we know what goes on behind your Inn's walls. Your Uncle may have learned his lesson, but we have no qualms with teaching it to you as well."

A bucket of cold ice crashed and intertwined its frozen fingers in April's stomach, reaching up to her spine, holding her still and jagged. Her world which had been so precariously placed as the bowl atop the leaning mound of dishes had suddenly tilted and risked falling over the edge as she returned the foreign woman's cold, uninterested gaze with something she hoped was just as harsh. Karai's lip twisted into a hint of smirk at the gaze and the iron-grip holding April in place relinquished its hold and the woman in the sharp dress was gone, melding in with the crowd as if it were nothing.

Without the hold on her shoulder, April staggered into the wall of the alley, her breath coming in short, strained gasps. She knew her uncle to be dead – had known the moment she heard of his disappearance, knew it because he told her so, because he said to meet her on the very same day of his disappearance, to tell her something he had been keeping under wraps for far too long, and she thought she was finally over it after ten years. But this news, this small snippet of what might have been the downfall of her beloved uncle, tore her world apart, and she felt his missing presence as harsh and raw as the day he left.

Her knees gave out and she sank halfheartedly against the wall, the dark alley blanketing her from Main streets shoppers.

Instead of going home that night, she wandered the streets as aimlessly as one with no home would, and though the cold swept in from the sea, chilling the people on the street to find shelter in their warm beds, April never once felt the sting on her face, nor the wet drops of a coming rainfall. In such a daze as she was, it took her several minutes and much shaking to realize someone was speaking to her.

"Hey, can you hear me? Hey – what did she say her name was?"

"… When did she say her name?"

"Weeks ago, Mr. Observant – OW! Hey!"

"Shuddup."

"April – her name's April, Leo."

"April? April can you hear me okay? She's frozen solid – someone help me get her inside."

Suddenly her world was shifting once again, and someone was carrying her bride-style up the steps that seemed so familiar… Just before the scenery changed to the confinements of a stale smelling lobby, she caught a glimpse of a flickering yellow light shining vaguely through a dirtied wall near rain speckled earth, and then she was being placed on a stiff, well worn blue couch with patched corners.

A light clicked on to life overhead. A green, worry frowned face swam in front of her vision. Leo blinked curiously down at her before turning over his shoulder, calling out, "Someone bring in her bags - she dropped them on the last step."

"I got it – Ooooh! Food!"

"You doing alright now, April?" He asked returning his worry-wrinkled gaze to her face. He looked so young and wrinkled all at once that she wanted to laugh out loud. Instead, she squinted at him carefully, unsteadily trying to focus her eyes on him.

"The… lights work?" she asked instead.

Leo blinked, thrown off by her question. He straightened up a little, his worry replaced by confusion – apparently, in his book, if she was well enough to be asking about the electricity, she was well enough to not be near death's door stop. "Oh, that. Donnie fixed it up after you left – he's pretty handy like that."

"That fast?" April frowned at how distant her voice sounded.

The mutant's frown lines were replaced again, and he leaned in closer to her. "April, that was hours ago. We were just going out to go look for you when you collapsed on the steps."

"You were going to look for me?"

"Here's some blankets, Leo," said Donnie, barley making it into April's swimming vision. Leo nodded his thanks and gently laid them over the red-head with careful tenderness. "… Do you think she'll be alright?" the younger brother asked quietly.

"She'll be fine," Leo said with well trained, older brother finality. What he said was law, and his brother's listened with unending trust. "Go help Mike with dinner – I'm sure he'll find something to catch on fire."

"What about—"

"Don't worry about it – I've got it under control, Don." Leo stood, glancing at April's direction one last time before leading his younger brother off toward the far end of the room. They were speaking lowly to each other, but since she couldn't make out the words, or find the energy to care much if she couldn't, she rolled her shoulders, slipping further underneath the blanket and allowed her eyes to droop.

Even the cacophony of what sounded suspiciously like an avalanche of falling dishes followed by an aggravated growling "MIKEY!" didn't stir her enough to open her eyes, and soon enough, April O'Neil was lost to a silent world of soft, common dreams of comforting light and whispering voices.

_Left, left, right, fork right… _

* * * *

The next morning was quiet and peaceful and nearly no different than the past week's mornings. Everyone seemed to be just as happy to ignore April's incident last night as April was – the only real difference of the day was she woke up on a couch instead of her bed, a very regaling twist indeed. But aside from that, she noticed a slight difference in the air around the breakfast table that day, even though it was quiet and composed as usual, it didn't feel as if they were trying their best to deny her existence in the world, but accepted it – grudgingly, perhaps, but still it was an improvement if nothing else.

However, she was having a very strong sense of déjà vu at the specific choice of conversation this morning.

"Donnie heard it, too, Leo! Didn't ya, Don?"

Don frowned over the table, barely avoiding Raph's pointed glare. "I already told you, Mike, I don't know what I heard – floor boards creaking, maybe. It's an old place; I'm surprised we haven't fallen through one of the steps on the stairs yet! Ah, no offense," he added sheepishly, eyeing April out of the corner of his eye.

Mikey, however, wasn't having it this morning. "Do floorboards say _words_, Donnie? Do they mumble and talk about us like they think we can't hear it?" He huffed, folding his boney arms across his chest. "Why don't you guys believe me?"

"Now why does this sound familiar – Oh! Right, I remember. What about the haunted fishhook? The one that just _threw_ itself off its line and stuck in my –" Raph shot a glance in April's direction, "… leg."

"Well, okay, that one might have been the wind, but this time I'm _serious_ guys!"

"Yeah, sure it is." Huffing, Raph leaned further down in his chair, leveling Mikey with an uninterested stare. "So tell us then, what were these ghosts sayin' then?"

The younger mutant frowned, biting his lip. "It was almost like… directions to someplace or something. It kept saying it over and over again-"

"Left, left, right, fork right?"

Again, for the second time at the kitchen table, everyone turned to stare at April, as if surprised she was actually there and speaking. "What?"

She cleared her throat, feeling a little foolish. "The whispering… floorboards, I mean. The same thing over and over, right? Left, left, right, fork right, up some steps, down some – something like that?"

"Yeah!" Mike's eyes brightened to the size of dinner plates, "that's it! You heard them too?"

"I've been hearing it the first night we stayed here. Call me crazy, but I thought I saw a light on in the Inn's windows yesterday too, but I didn't think anything of it until last night," April said slowly, skirting around the night's incident, "Donnie which lights have you fixed on the first floor?"

"Just the lobby," he answered, frowning.

"Could it just have been a trip in a line?" Leo offered, shifting his gaze uneasily from human to mutant.

"No, I cut the power off in the other lines so I wouldn't shock myself when I worked on it today," said Don.

Mikey was simply watched with a self-righteous air as the conversation snowballed – although he did take the time to shoot Raph "I-told-you-so" glares.

"Which level did you see the light on at, April?" Leo asked, getting to his feet. He motioned for Donnie to stand with him as well, but shook his head as Mike eagerly slipped out his chair. "Stay with Raph, Mikey. We'll be right back." Not waiting for an answer, Leo quickly crossed the room and slipped through the door that lead to the lobby, April and Donnie close at hand. He automatically headed for the stairs, but April caught him around the shoulder.

"No, see that was the weird thing about it – it was a window close to the ground, underneath us. I don't ever remember seeing it when I used to come here, but I think the rain that day washed some of the dirt away from the sill." April walked around the large, cavernous room, looking carefully at the pattern on the hard wood floor. "I think… I think there might be a basement around here somewhere."

Leo and Don shared a glance. "I didn't think there was a basement," said Don quietly.

"Neither did I – but there was a lot my Uncle kept from me," said April absently, lifting up an old, rotten rug that was spread across a large part of the floor. "I remember he was always working on something though – always making all kinds of racket. I always thought it was strange… but now…"

"What about the stairs?" said Raph, standing at the kitchen's door way with a curious young Mikey peering around his legs. "I noticed a couple of days ago there was some recent work behind them – something that didn't fit the molding of the lobby." Everyone stared at him. "What?"

"That's… just very observant," Leo said slowly.

"For a Mr. unObservant," Mikey finished cheerfully.

Raph bristled, folding his arms across his chest. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He marched across the room, reaching the stairs in three strides. "Yup, see it here?" He brushed against its side that was missing a good portion of its paint. "It's still rough like it wasn't sanded down or nothing. And the dust is all missing here." He reached further behind the stairs, his arm slipping completely behind it. "Whoa – there's enough room to fit behind here!"

By then, the others had crowded around him, watching curiously as Raph completely disappeared behind the staircase before any could say anything more, and there was a click and a creaking cry that sounded quite like a door opening. There was another few seconds as Leo, Don, Mike and April held their breath, straining their ears for any sounds of movement.

"Hey, there's another staircase down here." Raph's head peered around the corner at them. "Looks like its pretty dark down there. Wanna come, Mike?"

"No!" Mike and Leo cried at the same time – though Mikey's was decidedly more of a squeak than a command as Leo's was. Raph smirked, shrugging.

"Suit yourself then."

"Wait- Raph--!" but Raph's head had already disappeared back behind the wall before Leo could finish his thought. "So headstr—April, where are you goi—"

"Sorry Leo, but this is my Inn," April said breathlessly as she squeezed herself behind the space in the stairs, Karai's threat ringing in her ears. Just behind the wall was a door about half her size, and she had to stoop to fit through it. However, after her feet touched the first steps of a spiraling staircase, the hall became much higher and she could right herself normally. Raph wasn't kidding though – it was so dark, she could barely see the steps in front of her. Round and round the stairs went in tight, turning loops that nearly made April dizzy – she nearly ran into Raph's back as her foot hit leveled ground. "Oh – sorry – what are we looking at?"

"Dunno, you tell me."

Raph stood aside for April to see, but it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. As they did though, a sudden pounding started in behind her ears and her eyes widened as she realized what she was looking at.

"Oh my—"

But whatever she planned to say was drowned out in a low cry as something dark, low to the ground, and moving fast, barreled into Raph, knocking him into the wall. He cursed out loud as his snout slammed into the stone wall, and the shadow bounded over to stand in front of a dim light, looking wild and just a little deranged.

"Ghosts? Here? In my room? But why now? They never bothered me before, right, left, right. I don't get it," she muttered loudly to herself, standing a little crookedly as she stared at April dazedly. By then, Raph had regained his balance and was standing slightly in front of April, regarding the mutant girl with a mixture of shock and confusion.

"What the hell _is it_?"

"I think… I think it's our ghost."


End file.
